Chapter 117: Where Do You Think You're Going?
Jin Sheng-lü didn't know why Imiao Ichirō had been killed. He didn't know who the killer was. And he didn't want to know.
He had exactly one thought occupying his mind: get out of here before he ended up like Imiao. He'd fought too hard to become a veteran Reincarnator. He absolutely did not want to die.
After tasting what "power" could bring—the advantages, the freedom, the shortcuts—Jin Sheng-lü was thoroughly addicted to it. His life had become precious to him in a way it never was before.
As long as I'm alive, everything else is negotiable.
* * *
At least the original plan worked—the Nine-Tails is loose and tearing through Konoha. That's what's buying me this chaos. Nobody's paying attention to one random guy running through the trees.
Jin clutched at that thought for comfort. The Nine-Tails' rampage had thrown the entire village into pandemonium, and in the confusion, his frantic sprint through a wooded area was attracting zero notice.
Then a much darker thought struck him, and his face drained of color.
The mission. If I can't complete it within the time limit… the Lord God executes me.
Imiao's dead. An Zhaoxie's whereabouts unknown. If An's been killed too, then I'm the only one left.
And there is absolutely no way I can finish the mission alone.
* * *
His mind was still racing through possibilities when he felt a weight settle onto his shoulder.
Like a hand. Casually placed. As if it belonged there.
Every hair on his body stood on end. Cold sweat rolled down his face, dripping from his chin.
A flat, unhurried voice from directly behind him: "This is actually the first time I've used this ability on a person. Not sure if it'll work as expected."
Ice shot up Jin's spine, from the tailbone all the way to the crown of his skull.
Before he could so much as twitch—
His consciousness went dark.
His body pitched forward, tumbling across the ground, rolling several times.
And as it rolled, it came apart.
This was "flesh and blood everywhere" in the most literal sense possible. The kind of scene that made you sick to look at.
* * *
Ryū stopped walking and surveyed the result on the ground. In front of him lay a red mass best described as a pixelated blur—and beside the blur, a complete human skeleton with what appeared to be still-twitching organs nested inside the ribcage.
He clicked his tongue internally.
This was the first time he'd used the Decompose-Decompose Fruit on a living human.
The Rogue Reincarnator had made a convenient test subject.
The result was… let's say, visually striking. The target's skeleton, internal organs, and flesh had been completely separated from each other in an instant—producing an instant kill through total structural disassembly. What was left looked like a biology-class model gone catastrophically wrong.
Should I be calling this the "Separation Fruit" instead? Other people's "decomposition" breaks things down into atoms—like Dust Release in the Naruto world. Mine just takes one object and splits it into several objects.
Probably a development issue. More Points into the fruit would probably refine the decomposition to smaller and smaller scales.
But honestly, this ability is kind of broken. One touch and it's an instant kill. The only prerequisite is not getting taken out before you activate it.
* * *
Ryū recovered the final Reincarnation Watch. The Quest notifications fired in sequence.
[Group Quest 1: COMPLETE]
All three Rogue Reincarnators eliminated.
Click [link] to claim reward.
[Group Quest 2: COMPLETE]
All three Reincarnation Watches recovered (undamaged).
Click [link] to claim reward.
* * *
That was… unexpectedly smooth. From Quest assignment to completion, it's been maybe half a day. Faster than the Blackbeard Quest in the One Piece world.
Looking at Jin's remains, Ryū's expression was slightly odd.
He didn't claim the rewards immediately. Instead, he reached into his pocket and pulled out two small, sticky, roughly marble-sized spheres—just a touch larger than standard glass marbles.
He turned them over for a few seconds, studying them, then slipped them back into his pocket.
If any shinobi had been present, they'd have recognized what Ryū had just been holding:
Two one-tomoe Sharingan eyes.
He'd gouged them out of An Zhaoxie's corpse.
Leaving them to rot seemed like a waste. And the Sharingan was famously plug-and-play—whatever the actual biological mechanism, the things were unreasonably versatile.
He wasn't about to carve out his own eyes and socket these in. But he could send them to Wolffy in the chat group. Alien tech from another world's power system? Wolffy would absolutely want to research those.
* * *
Setting aside stray thoughts, Ryū claimed the Quest rewards.
Quest 1: 3,000 Points. Quest 2: 1,000 base + 1,500 bonus. Grand total: 5,500 Points.
5,500 is a solid haul. I'm probably the wealthiest member in the entire Chat Group right now.
He didn't sit on the Points. Without hesitation, he poured 5,000 of them directly into Armament Haki proficiency.
Five thousand Points vanished.
Five hundred remained.
And his Armament Haki leaped from Low tier straight to Intermediate.
His strength had just undergone another seismic upgrade. How much exactly? Hard to say—the Chat Group didn't provide stat sheets.
The remaining few hundred Points he left untouched. Might come in handy later.
* * *
Faintly, from somewhere in the distance, the sound of explosions rumbled through the smoky air.
Ryū turned toward the Hokage Rock and surveyed the damage. Columns of smoke climbed from half the village.
They still haven't sealed the Nine-Tails? Well—a lucid, uncontrolled Nine-Tails would fight with far more tactical awareness than the genjutsu-enslaved version from canon. Harder to seal. Makes sense.
Then his gaze shifted slightly. A specific direction.
His expression changed.
Wait—isn't that—?
Oh, crap.
☆☆☆
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